A little Chicka Chicka Boom Boom fun in kindergarten to work on learning names and practice fine motor skills! Here is a freebie available to my readers that is editable and ready for you to give to your students.
It’s an editable Chicka Chicka Boom Boom coconut tree pokey pinning page – just add your students’ names and print. Let me share a little background about this pokey pin free activity and lay down the ground rules on how to use it {wink}.
Name Practice
Since names are so crazy important to the foundation we lay for reading and writing, I really do spend a lot of time working with and on names.
Since each child’s own name is their favorite word in the whole.wide.world anyway, we might as well capitalize on the built-in intrinsic value of it all.
Some things we do with names on a daily basis are:
- read a name chart in a sing-songy voice (yep, I’m teaching them as if they were sight words!)
- pick a line leader and finding bits we know (pulling in a reading strategy) which allows me to later introduce vowel patterns, r controlled vowels and such for those who are ready for it…
- and oh yeah, well, their names are everywhere
Student leading the class in reviewing our name chart as students follow along
At the beginning of the year, I like to bring in Chicka Chicka Boom Boom as a main read aloud. We make a class book with our names as an example of one extension we do with the story.
One of the literacy centers I’m introducing around this time is the pokey pinning center. I try to bring a little Chicka Chicka Boom Boom flavor into our new literacy center while giving them practice on their names.
This free pokey pin activity sheet is the first page they do at this center.
practice this literacy center as a whole class. Everyone gets their own pokey pin page.
The Best Parts of a Pokey Pin Activity Like This
Low and behold they are growing killer fine-motor muscles while doing work like this and it’s totally evident so early on in the year where the most work is desperately needed.
I love that they have to also build core strength when lying on the floor, propped up by their elbows to complete such work.
Overall a win in my book and hence why it’s a year-long literacy center in my room that focuses on sight words.
How To Make Your Free Pokey Pin Activity
So how do you (and they) use it?
- Type in your students’ names in the bottom of each half sheet of paper in the included Free Pokey Pin activity powerpoint file below. Save it and print!
- Cut your printed papers in half and cut construction paper sheets to match.
- Teach them how to staple the two pieces together so that their work doesn’t slip and make it unreadable (although there will be some with such poor fine motor control that this will be inevitable).
- Make ’em promise to use pokey pins correctly. And let ’em go! They trace the letters and coconut tree using poked holes. You can introduce and do this as a whole group activity (provided you have enough floor space for them to sprawl out) or introduce it in small groups or as a literacy center activity.
- Pull apart the two sheets and display the construction paper pinned paper. Hang it in a window to let the light shine through, revealing the picture and text. (I like to model that if you can’t “see” the words or picture, then you’re not quite done yet…)
Download Coconut Tree Pokey Pinning Name Practice
And if you have a kinder who already knows their name (like someone who repeated kindergarten) you could simply type in their last name to work on. You have the freedom to change it up since this free pokey pin activity is editable.
If you love pokey pinning and want to use it as a literacy center – then I’ve got your back. Get lots of pokey pin templates that your students will love and you’ll love what they’re learning.
Think it might work in your classroom? What tips do you have for using pokey pins?
If you like what I do here on KindergartenWorks, then be sure to subscribe today. I look forward to sharing ideas with you weekly.
More Beginning of the Year
- 12 Tips to Start a Successful Kindergarten Year
- 3 Kindergarten Tips to Make the First Week of School Easier {on the teacher}
- First week of school lesson plan bracelet
- 5 Activities You Shouldn’t Skip the First Week of Kindergarten
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Thank you so much for sharing this Leslie! I can’t wait to put it to use with my kinders! Hope your school year is going well!!
You’re so welcome Julie! Great to hear from you!
– Leslie
Thank you for all you do! I have so much of your work in my classroom- both free AND purchased! My classroom is much better now! Thank you!
Aw, thanks so much for sharing. Glad you’re enjoying both freebies and the best of what I offer!
– Leslie
This is really, really cool! I’d love to see how kids will use it for goup activity. Very interesting and educational!
Wonderful to hear!
– Leslie
Leslie, this is perfect, as always. This is the first year, of my three years in kindergarten, for me to put a lot of focus on the Chicka books. I think it’s a way for me to show my independence of all things the admins are shoving on our plates. In fact, I stopped the hours of lesson plan writing on Thursday and created my coconut tree for in our hallway and sent letters home to decorate as a family project for our tree. These are the important things of kinder-learning, not hanging developmental scales and spending 15 hours on lesson plans. I love the pokey pins and you’ll definitely see my kinder-bears engaged in this activity this week during our learning stations. Thank you.
Betsy, It’s neat to hear how you are making changes in your thinking! Good for you to do what you know is right. I’m sure your families will see that determination shine through which will only come back to shine upon you!
– Leslie